Limited progress seen on Greek debt talks

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing pressure from his country's creditors to make concessions to ﻿unlock billions of euros in loans.﻿

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is facing pressure from his country's creditors to make concessions to ﻿unlock billions of euros in loans.﻿

Photo: Virginia Mayo, STF

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British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, June 25, 2015. Greece and its creditors launched a new round of talks in Brussels early Thursday in a fresh bid to unlock billions of euros in loans and save the country from bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) less

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, June 25, 2015. Greece and its creditors launched a new round of talks in Brussels early ... more

Photo: Virginia Mayo, STF

Limited progress seen on Greek debt talks

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BRUSSELS - The standoff between Greece and its creditors continues. Despite efforts to find a resolution to the impasse over Greece's international bailout, eurozone finance ministers Thursday broke up their fourth emergency meeting in a week without an agreement.

The eurozone ministers could meet again Saturday, giving technical teams another day to review the Greek proposals, according to one person with knowledge of the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks remained so delicate.

The negotiations lost momentum as the two sides wrangled over how far Greece must go to increase revenues and pare government spending, increasing fears of a default and the country's exit from the eurozone.

Throughout Thursday, there were only limited signs of progress after separate morning sessions during which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece faced pressure from his country's creditors to make concessions.

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EU policymakers wanted some form of agreement Thursday to avoid the issue of the Greek debt crisis overshadowing a two-day summit meeting of the bloc's national leaders, who are meant to discuss migration and other issues. It was unlikely that the summit would deal with Greece as the sides continued to hammer out a proposal to present to the leaders.

Tsipras told reporters he was confident the sides could reach a compromise. But Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, one of Greece's biggest lenders, said that it seemed that Athens had backtracked on some issues.

For days, progress has been hindered by the refusal of Tsipras to agree to a compromise with the creditors' deal brokers: Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund; Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank; and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission.

Greece has sought to ease the four-month deadlock with its creditors with an offer Monday that amounted to savings of about $9 billion. But there were serious doubts among negotiators that the proposals would do enough to ensure more economic dynamism that would enable Greece to recover and pay off its loans.

While the savings offered by Greece are not that far off what creditors have been seeking, a lack of trust in Greece combined with concerns about the country's depressed economy have made the proposals hard for creditors to accept.